Pierola and Bern’s, Where’s the Love?
Chef Jeanie Pierola left Bern's this past weekend after ongoing disagreements with Bern's scion David Laxer came to a head. All I can say is that it looks like good news for the rest of us. C'mon, who out there wasn't getting a little tired of the relentlessly eclectic menu and overweening bar crowd at…
White Stripes and Dylan: “special collaboration”?
I've been a bit worried about the White Stripes ever since they canceled their fall tour due to Meg's "acute anxiety." This post on the duo's Web site, though, is reassuring: "[The White Stripes] recorded three never-before-heard original songs (with a special collaboration) and one unique new version of a song from their latest album…
Rory Gallagher: “A Million Miles Away”
Finally got hip to Irish singer/songwriter and guitar great Rory Gallagher last month when I picked up the CD Irish Tour (1974). The clip I posted here is from the documentary/DVD of the same title. Watch as Gallagher performs his signature song "A Million Miles Away," a plaintive, powerful rock epic about temporary losing one's…
Paying Attention To The Farm Bill?
Michael Pollan — author of the Omnivore's Dilemna, the best food book of the past decade — had a brilliant op-ed piece in the New York Times yesterday about this year's Farm Bill. I could talk about the piece here on the blog, but you should just read it for yourself. Bottom line — the…
Springsteen banned in the U.S.A.?
Fox News columnist Roger Friedman reported (scroll down past the Britney Spears nonsense) that Clear Channel is refusing to play any tracks off Bruce Springsteen's new album Magic, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and sits at No. 12 a month later. Friedman maintains that its ageism keeping The Boss off the…
What’s your rock IQ?
Hurting from a seriously excellent wedding last night that included a performance by the always awesome Legendary J.C.'s, I woke up this afternoon and stumbled across "The Almost-Impossible Rock & Roll Quiz" at RollingStone.com: Fifty-eight questions ranging from Motown minutia to obscure shit about the Backstreet Boys. I huddled over the computer, swore off Googling…
Wasted away again
Buffett unites young and old for a massive boozefest. “Your gonna wear that?†my buddy Buck asked the second after I hopped into his truck. “It looks like some Members Only jacket from the 1980s. What, did you borrow that from your dad?†Buck tugged at my windbreaker and chuckled. “What’s it matter?†I replied.…
An Alternative Religious Gathering
If you read with rapture my Urban Explorer column about the Family Impact Summit last month — where Christian fundamentalists headed workshops like “The Homosexual Agenda†— you might be interested in a more tolerant (and some would say, sane) event celebrating the relationship between religion and gays, lesbians and transgender people. “Faith and Fairness:…
The Willow – Part 2
Read part 1 here This position begins with the man seated on the edge of the bed or a chair and the woman saddled over top his lap. Gently lean her back until she has both hands on the floor and is balanced. The man then pulls her torso towards him, while she walks back…
Sustainable Buzz
Dr. Vino has a new study that shows how much of an impact the wine we drink has on the environment. It's a great study that deserves a serious read, but here's what I've pulled out of it: drink wine from big bottles or bag-in-a-box, oak chips are better than oak barrels and wine from…
Pinellas County unveils a new, innovative approach to helping the homeless — a tent city! Wait a second …
In case you haven’t heard by now, another tent city is coming to Pinellas County. On a 10-acre tract of land off of 49th Street at 126th Avenue North, next to a UPS warehouse and surrounded by swampy woods, a camp of tents will emerge by Dec. 1. The tent city (called a “soft shelter 
As if Hillsborough County’s suburbs could get more garish
A proposal before the Hillsborough Board of County Commissioners calls for a change in the land development code that would drastically change the limitations on signage along highways and industrial areas. Among the proposed changes: Highway billboards raised from 30 feet to 60 feet and local street signs raised from 15 feet to 30 feet.…
C-SPANtastic!
In addition to volunteering at public and community radio outlets as I wrote about in last week's issue, I also got some (intelligent) TV in there, too. A year ago I volunteered with the folks at WEDU (they're always in need of a few dedicated interns), where I delivered coffee and talk to Phyllis Busansky…
Cookbook Crazy in the SRQ
This weekend is the 10th annual Sarasota Reading Festival and, as usual, they've lined up a nice list of authors hawking new books, from immigrant-hatin' Lou Dobbs to serial killer lovin' Jeff Lindsay (of Dexter fame). On the undercard are a whole slew of cookbook authors worth coming out to see, including Barbara Kafka, Robert…
Office Party
Gala Corina lands in an unlikely locale, but the energy level’s as high as ever.
Wedding Bell Blues
Theater Friday, November 2
This Bud’s For You
Live in Paris
EPC: Mayor Vs Council
Mayor Pam Iorio has taken an unprecedented step in trying to halt the Tampa City Council's push to change the composition of the county Environmental Protection Commission. Iorio wrote directly to state legislators to let them know that the Council is off the reservation. "I know you have many issues on your agenda right now…
Frank Takes the Spotlight
Remembrance Tuesday, November 6
Living and Worshipping in a Material World
Art Saturday, November 3
Re-Designing the World
The second Sarasota International Design Summit has a lofty goal: to change lives.
Spreading the Musical Love
Music Wednesday, November 7
Peruvian Sin
Film Monday, November 5
Where CL stands
When word of the Orlando Weekly arrests hit the wires last week, you can be sure our ears were perked. In case you haven't flipped through our back pages, we also carry adult advertisements in our classified sections. Sharry Smith, publisher of Tampa's Creative Loafing, says she's used the news to review CL's advertising guidelines.…
Outtakes
Upcoming Releases BEE MOVIE (PG) Jerry Seinfeld returns from the stand-up comedy wilderness with this CGI-animated offering about a spunky little bee who wants more (as apparently do all animated creatures these days). The voice cast alone might be reason enough to investigate: Besides Seinfeld, Renee Zelwegger, Matthew Broderick and John Goodman, there's an eclectic…
Weekly Planner
CL's must-do list for the week of Thurs., Nov. 1-Wed., Nov. 7 By Leilani Polk 01Eight O'Clock Theatre breathes life into saucy Kit Kat Klub singer Sally Bowles in its new production of Cabaret, which opens tonight at Largo Cultural Center. 8 p.m., Largo. 02The International Cinema Series continues with a screening of Paprika, Satoshi…
Leftovers
A retreat, an opening, a delay.
Don’t Panic
Isn't there any good news in Iraq? I was going to write about something dull this week — probably arms exports. Then I received a terrific letter from a reader named Norman Glassman. Norm (can I call you Norm?) wrote to tell me he didn't appreciate my column last week about Khaled el-Masri. El-Masri is…
Get Royally rocked
Plus a Last Damn Show and Chris Smither
Dylan Shocks
Then gives them the kiss-off
Pizza, Pizza
Six months ago, I ate at 64 of the Bay area's finest pizza joints in Creative Loafing's PZZA Tournament of Champions. Cappy's in Tampa narrowly beat out Joey Brooklyn's of downtown St. Pete in the finals, but the entire elite eight deserve a second glance. Here's a reminder for anyone looking to put a pie…
A legacy of burns
Blaming someone when there’s no one to blame.
Arte & Commerce
Arte 2007 isn’t just a celebration of Latin American and Caribbean arts and culture. It may be good for Tampa Bay business, too.
Keep It on the D.L.
Comedy Sunday, November 4
The Madwoman in the Attic
A stunning, multilayered adaptation of Jane Eyre at Gorilla.
Summerbirds in the cellar, Steel train, Helmet
Plus Daphne Loves Derby
Frank Takes the Spotlight
Anne Frank has become one of the world's most renown Holocaust victims because of the personal record she left behind. Her diary — which intimately described the two-year period she and her family spent hiding from Nazis in a secret annex — is currently available in 66 languages and more than 40 million copies have…
Drugs, sex and bad tippers
A night with the pizza guy.
Brown’s Sun Shines
Plus … Widespread Panic and KT Tunstall
Future Talk
Suddenly it’s the season for city-fixing. Or at least having meetings about it.
A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH
Wristcutters is the ultimate deadpan.
Crowned Punks
Bradenton’s We the Kings go nationwide.
Jobsite & Jukeboxes
Mark Leib's review of Jobsite's Gorey Stories ("A Bit Too Gorey," Oct. 24), Alex Pickett's "Influencers" interview with Muslim leader Ahmed Bedier ("Like the NAACP, but for Muslims," Oct. 24) and Wade Tatangelo as jukebox hero/goat (Bar Tab, "Don't Rock the Jukebox," Oct. 10) were among the hot topics in our various electronic mailboxes —…
Faking it
"FEMA has issued an apology, saying that they had an error in judgment when they were attempting to get out a lot of information to reporters … It's not something I would have condoned. And they — I'm sure — will not do it again." –—White House spokesperson Dana Perino on Last week's fake FEMA…
The Life Aquatic
Literature Thursday, November 1
Laughing, Can’t Stop
Can’t sit still either.
ARTE, ARTE EVERYWHERE
Selected events in the Arte 2007 schedule.
The Champagne Room
Sox, Sanctions and Strippers
Under Assault
Arrests, subpoenas, grand juries: Two alt-weeklies take heat after investigating law enforcement.
Service is Job One
Nature's Harvest, a 23-year-old fixture in Tampa's organic and natural foods community, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection a few weeks ago. The south Tampa store was suffering under a conflict with the bank that holds its mortgage and, according to President David Taylor, "the only way to go forward with that relationship was to…
Citizen Denzel
Denzel Washington’s star power can’t save this ambitious take on power and corruption.
Artistic Temperament
Bernini’s fare can be brilliant but inconsistent.
Get Loose
With Brett McMullen
“I Can’t Stand Still”
How Buddy Guy went from sweeping floors at LSU to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Fall Out Boy, Luke Bryan, Madina Lake
And the Sarasota Blues Festival
